I remember my first visit to the United States over a decade ago. Landing from my small, bustling hometown of Meerut, India, I was instantly awestruck. The silence, the systematic flow of traffic, the lack of honking—it was a world engineered for flawless human convenience. Everything was neat, clean, and in order . For nearly a year, I was hypnotized. I praised this country for its efficiency, its cleanliness, and, notably, its lack of stray animals . Where were the dogs, the cows, the insects that are a normal part of life back home? The US, I thought, was truly a superior model of civilization. My clothes never even collected dust; it seemed the entire landscape was sterilized. But as the years passed, the hypnosis began to fade. I started asking a darker question: What is the price of this perfect order? The Cost of the Empty Road My initial praise for the US was based on what I didn't see: no stray animals, no swarming insects, no dust. I realized this absence wasn't a s...
The Shadows of the Past: Exploring the Phenomenon of Self-Acceptance of Inferiority Complex in India
🛣️ The Genesis of an Idea: A Commute to Clarity My mind often finds its most creative flow when I’m alone, battling the traffic on my daily bike ride from Shri Anandpur Sahib to my office in Chandigarh. It was on one such ride that a term crystallized in my thoughts: the Self-Acceptance of Inferiority Complex . The phrase is self-explanatory: a deep-seated belief among many Indians that everything associated with the Western world is fundamentally superior to our own. I have witnessed countless examples of this over the years, but two recent experiences truly hammered the point home. 🏆 The 'Gori Mem' Trophy Effect The most recent trigger was a remark made by Mr. Kapil Sharma on his popular comedy show to a guest who had married a foreigner: “ Oho Gori Mem .” This seemingly innocuous comment immediately struck me. It gave the distinct impression that marrying a white person—whether a man or a woman—is still viewed in India as nothing short of winning an Olympic medal. It sugge...